Just one match down in the European Under-18 Championships, but the smiles were firmly planted on the faces of the Irish players and management team as they left the Ayia Napa stadium for their base a few miles away in the town last night.

Nobody was counting any chickens, you understand, but a resounding 5-2 victory over Croatia had at least resolved an issue or two.

Any fears of the team languishing through the latter half of the week have been laid to rest for a start as last night's win, and the margin by which it was achieved, means that an unlikely sequence of results would be required to prevent this Irish side at least equalling the achievements of last year's fourth place in Iceland. Kerr can practise turning on the charm, too, because even more improbable now is the side failing to make the finals of World Under-20 Championships in Nigeria, for which only a third place group finish is required.

That tournament lasts for three weeks in April 1999, just the sort of time that those managers lucky enough to possess some of Ireland's rising generation of stars will doubtless be thrilled to lose them.

None of the troubles ahead seemed to be bothering Kerr last night, though. Nor, clearly, was the suggestion that by hammering one of the more highly-rated sides here in their opening game of these championships, the Irish had alerted the others teams to their potential. "You can't look at it like that," said Kerr. "You can get freak results in these championships, but you learn not to read too much into them. Anyway, if they'd scored their penalty to get back to 4-3, it could have gone to 4-4 and then who knows where, so I'm not exactly complaining about the way it worked out in the end."

There were plenty of compliments for the Irish boss to dish out and most, predictably, they were being dished in the general direction of his attacking players. In a game he described as "top level", Liam George got two of Ireland's five goals, while Robbie Keane, Richie Partridge and Stephen McPhail contributed one each. "I thought the movement up there was excellent," said Kerr, "and our play generally, after we got a few things sorted out at halftime, was great to watch."

The high point of that second half display, he admitted, had been George's second goal, a wonderful individual effort that came in the last minute of ordinary time. But the Luton-born striker, who had reckoned at 2-0 that the game was destined to become a rout, was reluctant to concede it was the best goal of his short career. "There's so many to choose from," he grinned, "so many. But this was the biggest game of my life and to score the goal that finally killed the Croatians off is incredible for me, so it's definitely the most important."

If he and his team-mates continue over the coming week as they started last night, it may be one or two off the top of the list by the time the 18-strong panel fly home to Ireland.